Gated Communities
by the.nerd.voice
Summary: Working undercover in conjunction with another police department, Andy Flynn and Sharon Raydor must work together in order to accomplish their mission. Special thanks to those over at Tumblr who helped with this prompt and in doing so, helped me provide oldfashionedgrl (over at LJ) the last piece of her holiday gift. (Rating may change in future.)
1. Chapter 1

"Just remember, I will try to call you every night, but you're more than welcome to text me, honey. If you need me, you call. Okay?"

Rusty cradles his mobile phone between his shoulder and ear as he lifts a large sandwich to his lips, "I'll be fine, Mom. It's only for a month, right? I mean, they think you have kids right? It's part of your background story isn't it?" He smirks, amused with most of the story they were presented with during the meeting and the woman had shown him.

Sharon sighs dramatically, "A month is a long time. If we get to the bottom before that, I'll be there sooner. I don't like being away from you for such a long time."

"I can take care of myself." The young man continues to fiddle with the sandwich in front of him.

"You have my credit card. Make healthy meal choices, not burgers every night. Got it?"

"And no wild parties, no strange men, and be careful while I'm cooking. It's like you always tell me. Don't worry. I got this. I'm technically an adult. I'll be fine.'

"If I'm unavailable, call Lieutenant Provenza." Sharon runs a nervous hand through her hair. She isn't too thrilled about leaving the young man by himself, especially for work.

Rusty smiles softly to himself, "I'm getting ready to eat lunch." He pauses for a moment, "Mom, I think you're more nervous about not being in the loop than you are about me being alone. I'll be fine. You, however, are going to have a great time on your mission with Andy." He attempts to keep himself from laughing, "I know it's a long time, but it's not like I'm not going to see you. There was a part in your backstory that said you have children, that's why I was bringing it up. There's no reason your actual kids can't come visit you from time to time. Don't worry. Promise me you won't."

She sadly smiles to herself, "I won't worry."

"You will, but I like that you're just agreeing with me to keep me from worrying about you." The young man nods, setting down the sandwich in his hands, "Listen, you're with Andy. You'll be fine. If nothing, you have one another. Right?"

Sharon glances over to the man in question as he drives, "Hopefully."

"Sharon-"

"Yes, fine. I'll attempt to." She huffs an exasperated sigh, "Make sure you get to class on time please."

"Goodbye, Mom!" Rusty grins to himself, touching the screen of his phone with his pinky finger in order to disconnect the call.

Sharon looks down at her mobile phone for a moment before glancing through the passenger window. "Any idea how much-"

"Longer?" Andy smirks, shrugging, "Probably a half hour or so. We should probably go over our history while we wait." He offers her a courteous smile, the feeling of nervous energy coming from her knows he just needs to take it easy with her.

"We've been married for-"

"I mean, wait, I mean we can come up with our own that would suit us better. Something that lets us have little breathing room."

Sharon furrows her brow slightly, "I'm not following."

"It says we've been married ten years, right? Why not closer to twenty. That way Rusty can come up whenever. We were both married before, had children before, then Rusty together." Andy offers, his hand flexes on the steering wheel, "Let's you talk to the kid more. You can say he's at school, which wouldn't be a lie. I know the less lying, the better with you."

"Rusty looks like neither of us."

He shrugs, "Not all kids look like their parents. I mean, look at Nicole, she has my eye color. That's about it. She's all her mother."

She sighs softly, "Chief isn't going to be very happy with that."

"So what?" Andy shrugs, glancing over to her for a moment, "This is our history, a history we have to agree on and comprehend. He isn't here and will have little to no contact with us since we're working with Fresno, it's up to us. We'll just fill them in when we get to it." He notices her push her hair back with her hand using his peripheral vision, "Besides, we're only two hours away. No reason the kid can't come visit."

He's trying to make her feel better, she knows. She offers him a gentle smile, "We're moving to Crimson Meadows because?" Sharon folds her arms, having already studied the information.

"Kids are all moved out. Rusty's in college and the others are of no worry."

Her smile broadens, "Our objective is to blend in and obtain information. From what the packet told me, this is an inside job. Somehow these drugs are getting here and it's incredibly hard to get into this community unless you have a passcode or the guard recognizes you. While impressive, one has to be curious about so much security."

"I wouldn't mind it." Andy shrugs, "I mean, think about it, no one bothers you. No solicitation, though probably no delivery service either. I wonder how that works."

"We will find out." Sharon smirks softly, "Our names?"

"Penelope and Christopher. Our last name is Montgomery. My father was a self made executive and you just come from wealth. I mean, it's all over you anyway. No need to worry about keeping up that facade." He teases, hearing a quiet chuckle come from her.

"You don't look like a Christopher."

"And you don't look like a Penelope." Andy likes this side of her, this amused, relaxed version. Well, she's getting there, he thinks. Her body much more lax in the seat next to him, "I'm going to call you Penny."

"Chris and Penny Montgomery." Sharon shrugs, shaking her head slowly, finally laughing after, "We're going to be terrible with this. It's been...God, twenty some odd years since I've gone into something so...intense."

"Longer than that for me." He nods slowly, "Infiltrated a mafioso circuit back in the early eighties. You?"

"Human trafficking and prostitution ring." When she hears him give a whole hearted laugh, she continues, "My parents watched the kids...they were very small."

"I can't say I can believe you were very convincing...no offense."

"None taken, but I must have done something right." Sharon folds her arms over her chest as she watches out in front of her, "Lasted all of two weeks."

"Why were you chosen to do something like that?" Andy raises his eyebrow.

"I was one of the only female officers in the department at the time and they weren't too keen on pulling outside help like they are today." She glances back to him, "I think the only reason we were asked before anyone else is, one, Chief is attempting to strengthen relations with other divisions and departments. Two, our age."

"Three, we're damn good at our jobs." He shrugs, "I think that's probably the most important."

"To you, maybe." Sharon sights softly removing the glasses from her face, "I feel like this is a terrible mis-"

"Come on." Andy scowls playfully, "Let's make the most of this, Penny. My beautiful, incredibly intelligent wife. What are your hobbies?"

"I don't have hobbies, I work." She watches him, a confused look on her face.

"We're retired. You don't work. Am I the one trumping you with the intelligence report right now?" He chuckles a bit, "For instance, I like to watch ball games and have only recently started to become a golf fan. Playing it, not watching it. Boring as hell."

The corner of Sharon's mouth turns up in a smile, "Okay...I like to bake, jog, and am currently studying interior design on my own. How is that?"

"That sounds great. Can you actually bake, though?"

"Yes, actually I can. I can also cook, contrary to popular belief."

Andy raises an eyebrow, "Who said you couldn't cook?" When he notices her shrug, he continues, "Look, let's just think of this as a vacation of sorts. We get to relax together, all while attempting to fit in with everyone else in the community. I know we can do it. We have to not think about work what so ever. That's the trick, I think. We'll be fine just living like we've been married nearly twenty years."

"Fine, Chris." Sharon leans back in her seat, head resting against the cushion, "What type of married people are we?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on. I'm sure you've noticed different types of couples." She straightens herself up in the seat, waiting for his response.

"How about we just go with whatever seems right in the moment?" Andy glances to her, "What we always wanted our marriages to be..."

She huffs a soft laugh, "You can say that again."

"Yeah."

Sharon clears her throat after an awkward silence befalls the vehicle, her arms folding over her chest. "Would you like for me to make dinner tonight?"

Andy shrugs, "Only if you want to. We can order in...I hear there's a fireplace. It could be nice." He offers her his hand to hold, "We just need to be loving...or seem like it. Not on the verge of a divorce, and certainly not just friends. Though I know that's probably a foreign concept with you."

"Maybe not as foreign as you think." She loosens her hold around herself, placing her delicate hand within his large one, lacing her own fingers between his. Yes, this is going to be very interesting, Sharon thinks.


	2. Chapter 2

"Larger than I thought it would be?" Andy grins, taking in the architecture and room layout among other things. "I can tell by the look on your face that you don't like the furniture."

Sharon shrugs, "It looks comfortable." She sweeps slowly around the room, device in hand, scanning for any possible radio signals within the house. Such information could mean someone had previously bugged the place before they had gotten there. "Have you called Mom yet?" She looks to him, tilting her head.

"Mom?" He pauses, knowing by the look on her face that it meant something else and that he should know better than to forget it.

"Just use my phone." She scrolls through the contacts, having switched some of them around for this sole mission, "I'll call Rusty when you're finished."

"Yeah, alright." Andy watches her another minute, looking for her to mouth any hints to him, sighing when she doesn't. He touches the contact marked 'Mom' on the iPhone, bringing it to his ear after.

"Chris, how are you making out?" The supervising officer for the mission answers the phone, Morgan Thomas. Brilliant officer all around, trained under Sharon Raydor when she was fresh out of the academy. She's thrilled about the entire mission and getting to work with her mentor again, "Are you all settled?"

He chuckles to himself a bit, realizing who it is, "Yeah, just fine. Penny said the furniture isn't as nice as she thought it looked in the showroom. You know how she is."

"Sounds like her." Morgan nods, "Any action outside?"

"Nah. Seems pretty quiet so far. We just got here no more than a half hour ago though." Andy grins, watching Sharon climb onto the kitchen counter to check above the cabinets, "She's already cleaning. Just got here and she's already cleaning."

Simple code word, cleaning meant sweeping the area for outside monitoring devices. Sargent Thomas leans back in her seat, "That's good. Okay, I'm going to let you all settle. If you need assistance of any kind, you call me right away. Got it?"

"Absolutely, Mom. Talk to you later." The man touches the screen of the phone, offering a hand to Sharon to help her off the counter, "How is it going?"

"All clean." She gently takes his hand, nearly falling from her descent of the kitchen counter, only to be caught by him, "Thanks."

Andy grins broadly, holding her in his arms for a moment, "You're very welcome."

Sharon lifts her head slowly. She doesn't realize she's leaning into him at first, looking into his eyes. A solid minute goes by before she pulls away, "Yes, well. Okay. I, um, I believe I'll just call Rusty later before bed. I don't want him to think I don't trust him enough to stay by himself."

"Our boy is a grown man, honey."

An amused smile breaks across her face, "Sounds so bizarre."

"Have to get in the habit." Andy shrugs, "Have to get comfortable here and with one another. You know that."

"It's been a very long time since I've had to pretend." Sharon tucks her hair behind her ear, adjusting her glasses.

He tries to keep himself from sighing. It breaks his heart and he wonders if she's ever had true happiness. He wonders if there's ever been a time, where her children weren't concerned, that she's actually been happy. He hates Jack Raydor for doing that to her trust...for doing that to her.

"_You were both specially chosen to participate in this exercise. We ask for your utmost cooperation during this mission as relations between our department and that of others relies on it." Russell Taylor sat before them, perched on his elbows as he leaned forward. "I think more than anyone in this department, the two of you would be most reliable and trustworthy in this situation."_

Sharon places her clothes on hangers before placing them into the walk-in closet. "Do you have anything you'd like me to put in here?" She calls to him, knowing he was lounging on the bed, watching the television, not far from her.

Andy stares at her, though he knows she's unable to see him. "If you want to. You're better with clothing than I am. I was just going to throw them into the drawers."

"Throw what?" She turns, catching his eye, "Those button downs that you wear often? They should be placed on a hanger." She moves over to his large suitcase, lowering it to the floor and unzipping the side, "And you wonder why you haven't a girlfriend in the past year. No woman likes a wrinkled shirt."

"Nah. I haven't really been looking. I'm content for things to stay like they are for a while."

"Suit yourself." Sharon removes the shirts, noticing he hasn't bothered to fold them for the most part, "I'm putting these through the wash."

"Why? They're clean!" Andy calls out, using his hands to speak, "I washed them before I packed them."

"Fine, then I'm ironing them all." She stands up, placing her hands on her hips, "Do we have an iron here?"

"Well, this is a house. Not a hotel. So, unless you brought one, probably not."

Sharon makes a face, "I'm going to go to a store and buy one. No husband of mine is wearing a wrinkled shirt."

Andy chuckles, watching her, "Good to put your foot down on something." He nods, "I'm going to go walk around or something while you do that. See what the area is like."

"Are you sure? Wouldn't it be better if we do that together, later?" She raises an eyebrow.

"Are you coming onto me, Mrs. Montgomery?" He chuckles, only to receive an exasperated sigh from her, "We can go out later too. Just all the damn time. You should get us a dog while you go out to get your iron...and maybe a bag of chips."

Sharon walks closer to the bed, her hands on her hips, "So, you want me to grab an iron, a dog, and a bag of chips. Is that all? Is that all you plan to live on for a week until I go back again?" An amused expression on her face, "Do you know a store that carries all three of those items?"

"Walmart." Andy smirks, "Pick a cute one."

"We're not getting a dog."

"I mean the bag of chips."

"You're impossible, you know that?" Sharon attempts to keep herself from laughing, finally doing so after allowing a moment to pass.

He loves to make her smile, loves to make her laugh even more. Yes, he knows he has feelings for her. However, keeping her in the dark and restraining himself, that was the way to go with this. At least until she realizes it all on her own. Realizes that, maybe, she has feelings for him too, "I've heard it from time to time."

She sighs, coming down from her giggling fit, placing her hands on her hips, "You know, I-" She pauses as the doorbell rings. "Did you order anything?"

"Sharon, I've been standing next to you the entire time. It's probably neighbors welcoming us." Andy slowly rises from the bed, "Relax. Some things you don't need to be a cop for." He grins to her, walking through the house. He suddenly takes her hand, pulling her close to him before opening the door.


End file.
